John Slattery talks ‘Mad Men’ and Philip Seymour Hoffman

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Boston born and bred actor John Slattery, who plays Roger Sterling on AMC’s “Mad Men,” is now promoting his directorial film debut in “God’s Pocket,” which will be released in May. While shooting the film, Slattery (inset), who graduated from St. Sebastian’s School in Needham, formed a close bond with the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, who will appear in one of his final screen roles as a Philadelphia crook. Hoffman died in February of an accidental drug overdose. In an April cover story for Men’s Journal, Slattery talks about his friend, and about life after “Mad Men,” which begins its seventh, and final, season on April 13. The friends’ last communication was the day before Hoffman’s death; Slattery got a picture from Hoffman of the two of them at the Sundance Film Festival
along with the message: “This made my day.” Three days before he died, Hoffman spoke of Slattery, saying, “I really love the guy.” Says Slattery: “At this point in your life, you don’t discover many people you can connect with like that.” As for “Mad Men,” which also stars Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, and Christina Hendricks, Slattery says it’s time to wrap up. “I just don’t know how much there is left to say. I’m not saying it’s running out of gas — but we told the story. It’s time to go. I know some people will have a harder time dealing with that than others. But my kid was 6 when we started — now he’s in high school. Seven years is a long time.” Slattery also says he’d like to see the series end with the core group of four or five who started from day one still together. “But that’s probably corny and nostalgic. That’s probably not how it’ll happen . . . as of right now, I am still alive.”